Africa Hotel Aksum

After spending two nights in Gonder, we made our way to Aksum, a town in the far North of Ethiopia, very close to the Eritrean border. In addition to being the purported resting place of the Ark of the Covenant, according to Ethiopians and some others (brought back from Jerusalem by Menelik, son of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon), it's home to palace ruins, royal underground tombs, colorful local legends, and numerous impressive stelae - ancient memorial obelisks ...

... prayers before school & work: the whole way is with white dressed quite people. At 9:00 I took a mule+its owner+an English speaking boy, and we went up to Ashton monastery, 600m climbe (to 3200m), 6km. Forget the monastery - the way is inportant: so nice, rural area. I went down by walking, because I was afraid to fall from the mule (Rita...). 4/3 a FLIGHT TO aKSUM. hOTEL aFRICA ($6.3 a single room with bathroom). We took a tuktuk and saw all the ...

... evil king Oleonus. The most beautiful (and most photographed) church is Bet Giorgis the only one without scaffolding. It is carved in the form of a Georgian cross and stands isolated in an excavation below the ground so you don't see it until you are very close. Sander: " Lalibela and all the churches are special, but Bet Giorgis is unique" Jasper: I liked our guide, he bought tea for us and he gave us two Lalibela crosses!" Robert will talk about the road to Axum in more ...

... huser også landets ældst kirke. Her har kvinder ingen adgang, så nærmere beskrivelse er ikke mulig. For at give alle adgang til gudstjeneste, har Haile Selassie bygget en stor ny kirke ved siden af. Midt imellem ligger en mindre bygning, som bærer fruens navn. Her holder etiopierne på at Pagtens Ark hviler. Når man hører historien og ser de arkæologiske udgravninger, er det svært at forstå, at det er det fattige Etiopien vi taler om.

Pretty similar to the last airport, but with a few more interesting tidbits. Grant gave an American Dollar as a tip to someone who helped with our bags (you have to work very hard NOT to get help whether you want it or not) so as not to use up our Birr before getting to another bank. I watched this guy and a friend inspect the money for a good long time. Later, after we had checked in, he came up to Grant with an English speaking friend asking for another ...

Another amazing day of history: Queen of Sheba, the Ark of the Covenant, King Ezana's Inscription (like the Rosetta stone), teetered Stelae, all led by an eccentric archaeologist! He told us that he would only reveal 2% of the history of the area so as not to overwhelm us. Well, 2% was a bit too much... Now this are is more like the dry and dusty vision of Ethiopia I had in my mind. While other areas of the ...

... to exit the minibus near my hotel. As I reached the middle of the minibus there was a pole that forced me to remove my backpack to get through. I man who I had been sitting with offered to help and I handed him my pack. As I did this someone must have unbuttoned my trouser pocket and removed my valuables. After checking into my hotel room I began to empty my pockets and it was then that I noticed my things ...

... out the local oddities, and even demanded free samples for us!! Aksum and its environs is dominated by unexcavated ruins, tombs, and stelae dating back to the Queen of Sheba, who's residence was one of the main palaces in the ancient town. A church in the town is also reputed to house the Ark of the Covenant, but as they were charging an arm and a leg to get in, and women were not allowed in.... we ...